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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25665874">our corner of the world</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaicarus/pseuds/Shaicarus'>Shaicarus</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, M/M, OC centric, One Shot Collection, Oneshot Prompts Challenge, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Writer's Month 2020</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 03:48:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,522</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25665874</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shaicarus/pseuds/Shaicarus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s a sign tacked to the outside of the door to Paz’s room, saying ‘PLAGUE RATS FUCK OFF’ in his usual jagged script. It’s not quite a sock on a door knob, but it works just as well.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>OMC/Kenn (Mass Effect)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Writer's Month 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Tattoo artist/flower shop AU</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>it is august, which means it is writer’s month, which means here we are! last year I focused on a Dragon Age character. this year I’m focusing on Mass Effect characters! I have a gaggle of mercenary OCs! and a friend’s OC because she became integral to the group dynamic. happens a lot with this friend. anyway Desa belongs to <a href="https://seahaloed.tumblr.com/">my friend Ala</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>It’s Desa who gets tasked with play-acting as the tattoo artist. Aiana has the artistic skills, but she’s too bubbly to really seem convincing on Omega. Renatus has the acting skills, but he can barely draw a straight line most days. So, Desa got the short straw.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The shop looks convincing enough, regardless of the fact that the team set it up in about four hours. Nevertheless, it looks like it’s been there for ages, as perfectly nondescript as possible; easy for anyone to assume they’ve simply walked past it without ever taking note.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There are a lot of corners like that on Omega.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It’s a slow day, talking potential customers out of the shop and keeping an eye open for the mark. Supposedly, he always walks through this square in the afternoon, but Desa is beginning to think otherwise.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>As afternoon turns to evening, Paz shows up, under the guise of delivering a vase of flowers. He sets them on the front counter and leans his elbows on the countertop. While Desa was quick to trade her helmet in for a headscarf once she was sure she could get away with it, Paz has been more cautious about it. Even with his polarized face-plate still in place, though, Desa knows he’s grinning at her all the same.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Wipe that look off your face, pyjak.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“That bad?” he wonders dryly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I would have more fun listening to Aiana recite elcor poetry.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Better you than me,” Paz offers cheerfully, re-situating the vase on the desk. “Give us a call if the mark shows up!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“If you’re just going to duck in and then immediately leave, at least take me with you!” Desa demands, slapping one hand down on the desk.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“No can do!” Cackling, Paz flees, leaving Desa to her fate.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Quarantine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>//pokes loving fun at the quarians</p><p>also yes, that kenn, the one stuck on omega</p><p>chronology so far: 2 -&gt; 1</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>Admittedly, the disinfecting process isn’t the <em>sexiest</em> thing on the station. The fact that Paz’s armor has been as heavily modified as it has been doesn’t help matters. But the fact remains, sometimes Paz wants to have Kenn over at the hideout and sometimes they don’t want two layers of armor between them.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>There’s a sign tacked to the outside of the door to Paz’s room, saying ‘PLAGUE RATS FUCK OFF’ in his usual jagged script. It’s not quite a sock on a door knob, but it works just as well.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>By the time Kenn has his armor off, Paz is still wearing half of his. Paz looks expectantly at Kenn until Kenn sighs and helps him out of the last of his armor. It’s thicker and sturdier and spikier than Kenn’s civilian armor, and Aiana would probably turn the contrast into some sort of poetic metaphor.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Paz and Kenn, however, are more distracted by washing up in the bathroom, one after the other.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Intimacy amongst quarians requires more than a bit of stubborn determination.</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Magic</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p></p><div class="">
  <p>Paz is supposed to be meeting someone. ‘Meet at the bar. Look for someone with a red bag.’ Not exactly a lot of detail to go off of, but simple enough to follow.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Either way, they’re late, and Paz is sipping a drink through a straw and absentmindedly people-watching as he waits for time to pass.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And finally, there. A drell, a red bag slung over his shoulder. He looks pointedly at Paz as he passes and takes a seat across the bar, and Paz abandons his drink to head over to the drell’s table.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Most people negotiate for their own identities,” the drell observes. He doesn’t sound annoyed or intrigued, so much as he’s simply commenting on a mild oddity.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Your boss is the one who insisted the meeting <em>had</em> to happen on Ilium,” Paz points out, sitting down and folding his arms on the table. “If he could just swan on in here himself we wouldn’t even be doing this. So can we drop the chit-chat and just get to the part where your boss works their magic?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Fair enough,” the drell agrees pleasantly, folding his hands together on the table. “And what sort of magic are you expecting the Shadowbroker to work? There are, after all, many cheaper options for a false identity.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“We don’t want a false identity,” Paz corrects immediately. “No new name. No new home. No new backstory. We just want his record to go away completely. And while he’s willing to risk taking a cheaper option to make that happen, I’m not.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The drell smiles quietly. “Very well, as long as you can afford it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I’m good for it,” Paz returns flatly, drumming his fingers on the table. “Half now, half once it’s finished.” Makri will spot him the extra; he always does.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then I would advise you not to leave Ilium,” the drell replies, “as I doubt this will take long. In a couple days, as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Renatus Maksim will have simply resigned from his job in C-Sec and left with little fanfare.”</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Long distance relationship</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>ren saw one just-barely-an-adult quarian and immediately adopted him. just an instant ‘this is my baby bird. there are none others like him and i am not sharing.’</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>“You’re sure?” Kenn’s hands fluttered nervously in front of himself. “<em>Absolutely</em> sure?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You hate Omega,” Paz pointed out. “And it’s not like I can’t afford it.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“But <em>you’re</em> on Omega,” Kenn pointed out in return, as if that was not obvious. “The fact that I like <em>you</em> isn’t exactly subtle!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What, you think I’m never going to get in touch with you again?” Paz laughed. “Kenn, just take the credits. Get yourself a ticket home. You can call whenever you want, and I’ll feel better knowing you’re off of this cesspit.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“But—”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Paz grabbed Kenn’s hands and pulled him close enough to bump their helmets together. “You worry way too much. Just take the credits.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Kenn squeezed Paz’s hands and slowly nodded. “Alright. As long as you’re sure.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>-</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Paz ignored it when the door to the training room slid open, attention still focused on the punching bag. It was designed for even Renatus and Makri to use it, so one quarian--even a quarian in heavy armor--wasn’t going to do much damage to it. But the fact that each strike at least got it to move said a lot about his temper just then.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Renatus was quiet at first, just watching. Eventually, he asked, “You going to let me know what’s on your mind?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Had he been doing anything else, Paz’s shoulders would have bunched. But it would throw off his form, so they didn’t. He kept swinging.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Everyone’s getting a little worried, pyjak,” Renatus continued.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Paz ignored him and kept punching.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Baby bird, talk to me.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Finally, Paz came to a halt, one hand pressed flat to the punching bag for balance, shoulders heaving as he caught his breath. “I got a ping from the flotilla,” he stated flatly.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Renatus tipped his head expectantly. A silent <em>go on</em>.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“They’re trying to call everyone gone on their pilgrimages back,” Paz continued. He turned his head just enough that Renatus would at least know Paz was looking at him. “I’m not going, before you ask.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Okay,” Renatus acknowledged. “And what’s the deeper problem here?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I had Desa do some digging to figure out why. And it turns out they’re gearing up for war. To take back Rannoch.” Paz’s face plate thumped against the punching bag.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Paz--”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I sent Kenn back there.” Paz laughed, but it was a low and wounded noise. “I thought he would be <em>safe</em>.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Pyjak, just--”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“And maybe he <em>would</em> have been, but then the admirals went and strapped guns to the civilian ships!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hatchling—”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Who even <em>does</em> that? Who looks at a ship full of <em>families</em> and decides ‘oh, yeah, sure, that could be a battering ram?’”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Pazni!”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Finally, Paz fell quiet, peering over his shoulder. Renatus was offering a hand, and with a sigh, Paz let himself be reeled in. His faceplate thumped against Renatus’s chest and an arm wrapped around his shoulders.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Communications with the fleet are still open, yes?” Renatus asked.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Mm-hm.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Then we will figure something out. We’ll get him out of there.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“...Promise?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“In as much as I can, I promise.”</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Soulmates</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>
  <strike>hmmmm i can go fluffy with this with ren and desa or i can just admit that ren and makri are moirails</strike>
</p>
<p>for the record makri’s the leader of the squad, ren was the first official member of the squad. </p>
<p>chronology: 2 -&gt; 4 -&gt; 1 -&gt; 3<br/>chronology irrelevant for: 5</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div class="">
  <p>Makri loves the entire squad. He never says as much and gets even gruffer than usual when anyone suggests it, but they know it all the same. He’s never been good at subtle. So they know, he loves them all. But Renatus is different. Ren is special.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>While they all more or less know that they are members of Makri’s krant, only Ren ever hears it said aloud. There is nothing romantic about it, but it’s apparent all the same, in the way that only Ren can get away with getting into shouting matches with Makri, the way the line sometimes blurs between who is in charge.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Aiana pokes fun, occasionally, needling at Paz and Desa about whether or not they’re jealous. It’s in good fun, though; they know they have nothing to worry about. Tongue-in-cheek though it is, Makri calls Desa Ren’s wife for a reason, and his self-esteem was one of the few things Paz kept from the flotilla.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The fact remains that where Makri and Ren are concerned, the other will always come first, and the rest of the squad has come to accept it.</p>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>come poke me on <a href="https://shaicarus.tumblr.com/">tumblr</a> if you wanna chat</p></blockquote></div></div>
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